At a time when few teams are prepared to speak of selling their internet rights, but instead refer to partnerships with web producers, the assistant commissioner of the PAC 10 colleges warned that they are considering a sale of the data rights to their college basketball games.
Duane Lindberg, speaking at the Interactive Sports 2000 conference in Los Angeles noted that: "Within our business there have already been proposals of a financial nature for us to sell these data rights.
"We expect that there could be some form of exclusivity for results on a live basis, with delayed results available free of charge.?
The NCAA March Madness tournament already has a bundled internet rights deal with the CBS network, but the PAC 10 colleges themselves would be at liberty to make such a deal. The PAC 10 TV rights contracts were negotiated four years ago and run until 2006. "Until then", said Lindberg, "we have to piecemeal the remaining rights together."
Jerry Silverman general manager of ACS Sports.com added that: "Selling data rights is a dangerous road, but if you've got content and someone wants to pay for it the rights holder will probably consider it."
LOS ANGELES: Andrew Gellatly, SportBusiness.com new media editor, reports from the Interactive Sports 2000 conference.
